GuildWars2.com announces the official launch of Guild Wars 2, following a few days of early access to ArenaNet's MMORPG sequel. For those getting underway, this post has links to the game's Online Manual and a tutorial video to help you out. Word is:

Enter the ever-changing fantasy world of Tyria, where you control the story and your actions shape the world around you! With action-oriented combat, deep personal storylines, epic dynamic events, world-class PvP, and no subscription fees, Guild Wars 2 defines the future of online roleplaying games.

Verno wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 11:58:despite the fact that the game has no real aggro control and his stuns were long cooldown moves. What's funny is that I suggested we change things up a bit because the game isn't really based around those concepts and was met with almost hostility from people who wanted to heal, DPS and tank alone.

While certainty the so-called Holy Trinity doesn't hold up in this game per se, there are definitely heal-, dps-, and tank-based builds. Aggro does exist in this game, it's just that half of it is dependent on position relative to the mob rather than being purely heal/dps-based. I know this because I play a guardian either as a tank or a healer and you can spec to be rather good at either.

For ex., for the tank build, you need skills that allow you to get close (teleports), grab aggro (AoE) in addition to proximity alone, stabilizers (no knockdown etc.), break-frees (some teleports, etc.), with less reliance actually on stuns and push-backs because higher level mobs are immune anyway. And you must swap weapons to be effective; personally, I find sword and scepter (shield auto-swaps) ideal for that role, lets you teleport and do ranged/AoE dmg if need be. You also need hit Vit and especially Toughness, and defensive-/shield-based traits. Trust me, you can tank, although it's best to only be a "most of the time" tank, as full-time will lead to your death; it's more of a rotation with a lynchpin.

Just saying that while you may have been playing with pigeon-holed players, you risk becoming that yourself if you ignore that there ARE people who are mastering the raid mechanics specific to this game that, while different, are not completely unique. They're just applied in a new way. Of course, this is much less relevant for PVP, which is a large part of Guild Wars. I didn't get into the healing aspect because the post would become tl;dr.

Creston wrote on Aug 30, 2012, 16:09:Alright, bit the bullet and got the game today. Probably won't have time to play until this weekend, but I joined Tarnished Coast and will try to get into the guild once I can.

Does the game run slow, btw? I was getting 20 fps on my fairly beast work computer (Radeon HD 5850, SSD, 8 Gig RAM, 6 core Xeon @3.33Ghz) and most stuff was set to medium as far as I could tell. Admittedly it was set to 2500x1600 resolution, so that may have something to do with it.

I just hope my home internet connection can handle it. If not, I guess I may have to move.

Btw, anyone have a suggestion on what character/build to play first? I never played the betas, and it's been a LONG time since I last played Guild Wars. From a review I read, it seems a thief with ranged weapons gets lots of fun little tricks in combat.

Are the races typically better suited for one thing or another, or does it not really matter? Ie, is a Charr Thief just as good as an Asura one?

Creston

Yup, races are all even. Thieves are fun, but most classes seem about equally viable. I haven't found one that really seems harder than others. Just remember to dodge when you can, hehe.

My laptop and my desktop (when it was working, anyway) both get really good FPS, but I have mega systems, so your mileage may vary. My wife's PC seems to be getting good FPS, and it's a very low-middle range gaming PC. Her stuff is auto-detected though, so I don't know what settings she has. Mine are all maxed.

Alright, bit the bullet and got the game today. Probably won't have time to play until this weekend, but I joined Tarnished Coast and will try to get into the guild once I can.

Does the game run slow, btw? I was getting 20 fps on my fairly beast work computer (Radeon HD 5850, SSD, 8 Gig RAM, 6 core Xeon @3.33Ghz) and most stuff was set to medium as far as I could tell. Admittedly it was set to 2500x1600 resolution, so that may have something to do with it.

I just hope my home internet connection can handle it. If not, I guess I may have to move.

Btw, anyone have a suggestion on what character/build to play first? I never played the betas, and it's been a LONG time since I last played Guild Wars. From a review I read, it seems a thief with ranged weapons gets lots of fun little tricks in combat.

Are the races typically better suited for one thing or another, or does it not really matter? Ie, is a Charr Thief just as good as an Asura one?

HorrorScope wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 11:34:Do you believe people are different? If you do, then you do understand for the life of you.

To be at the top doesn't hurt, they can take those advantages to WvWvW. It's not like they miss all the content, there are things such as Alts.

It's an expression, no need to be so nitpicky about it man, sheesh. While I believe people are different, it doesn't mean I necessarily understand their individual motivations.

Right but all you need to realize is they are different, no one needs to understand. I only say that because we all hear it all the time "I don't understand these people", take those stuck in a hurricane, AGAIN. They are different, nothing more to know.

Paranoid Jack wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 03:08:Cutter, how much more space did your bank unlock open up?

I bought $20 worth of gems and used 600 to open up more bank space. The first 600 gems unlocks double the amount of space. In other words, it opens up a new bank space with the same 3 rows of slots. I

You can also unlock more bag slots on your character so you can carry more bags. I haven't opted to do that yet, instead I am working on gathering mats so my characters can craft bags. Both my tailor and my leatherworker can make 8 slot bags right now. I figure that is better than opening up another bag slot that will only get a 4 slot bag anyway.

Fibrocyte wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 08:51:How does one join the Bluesnews guild? I messaged "Waxx" last night with no response. TIA.

Just email mail in-game with the character you want to join and I'll pass along an invite. Or you can ask any other "The Silent Reign" member. I think you can search by guild to see who's on. Anyway, invites have been a little wonky atm anyway.

ďThat's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!Ē

HorrorScope wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 11:34:Do you believe people are different? If you do, then you do understand for the life of you.

To be at the top doesn't hurt, they can take those advantages to WvWvW. It's not like they miss all the content, there are things such as Alts.

It's an expression, no need to be so nitpicky about it man, sheesh. While I believe people are different, it doesn't mean I necessarily understand their individual motivations.

Back on topic, why I think this game will run into problems down the line - I was in a group last night doing Catacombs and we were having problems because people kept trying to build themselves around traditional MMO archetypes. We had one guy who insisted on being a tank and swore he had a perfect build for it despite the fact that the game has no real aggro control and his stuns were long cooldown moves. What's funny is that I suggested we change things up a bit because the game isn't really based around those concepts and was met with almost hostility from people who wanted to heal, DPS and tank alone.

After 30 minutes of getting tossed around I finally gave up and left them to their fate. That kind of unwavering addiction to traditional MMO mechanics is what I think will frustrate people who refuse to think outside the box a bit. There are some outdoor bosses who are easier to tackle that might satisfy them temporarily but they will hate the dungeons.

Verno wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 09:21:I have to admit I don't get Engineers at all. Stationary pets seems like a dumb idea and they so much utility/support that it borders on insane. Anyone here have one and can shed some light on how they play? I did see one dude using a flamethrower and that looked pretty boss though!

Engineers are the most versatile class of GW2, in my opinion. It's my favorite class so far (with Mesmer as a close second). Engineers can excel in support, condition damage (through pistols mostly), control (grenades, mines), defense (turrets)... it's a very flexible class, and I'm loving it.

As an example, in PvE, I've been using the rifle (it's a good weapon for control, with average damage output) and relying on the flamethrower (which has great AoE, short-ranged damage and control abilities) and mines (damage, control). I can face single enemies a few levels higher than mine with ease, and small mobs are very doable if you use the flamethrower well. It's very fun.

If you want, add me (Wolfox) in your contacts, and who know... we might get to play together sometime.

On a sidenote, I played WvWvW for the first time yesterday (using my engineer, as above, just changing mines for the elixir that gives you multiple boons) and it was a blast. Most fun I've had in quite a while.

Man I'm getting old, my wrists are killing me after playing for a few hours last night. Still having a great time with my Thief, I made a Guardian to play with my buddy just for kicks and its surprisingly good too, I see why tons of people roll one. Greatsword and Mace + Shield are both solid combos.

I have to admit I don't get Engineers at all. Stationary pets seems like a dumb idea and they so much utility/support that it borders on insane. Anyone here have one and can shed some light on how they play? I did see one dude using a flamethrower and that looked pretty boss though!

Apparently someone already hit level 80, not particularly surprising.

I will never understand people like that for the life of me. I saw some people exploiting a bugged event that was repeating last night too, just ruins the game IMHO. Oh well, their money!

What I really enjoyed in GW1 was the linear, epic story - it made it feel less of a grind. I hope GW2 still has that kind of thing; the personal story kind of sucks. I guess Anet can't have too many people not doing the dynamic stuff.

All of the personal storylines start to kick off the main story at about level 30.

Paranoid Jack wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 03:08:Cutter, how much more space did your bank unlock open up?

One of my biggest gripes is the shared bank across all toons. Pretty much forces you to open more space using gems. I like that the toons share collectibles. That I can applaud. While I play alts and focus on other crafting skills what I've gathered but can't use contributes to the leveling of my other character just by sending the items to the collectibles storage/bank.

My other complaint is that I'm having fun with every profession so far. Somebody was talking about thier Necro being boring? Did you try a dual dagger wielding necro? Adds a nice twist to the class.... er, profession.

Another thing I noticed is you can only have characters on one server at a time? And five is the limit? Not sure I like that since I wanted to try them all without deleting any. The flips side is it helps me focus on what I got instead of trying every profession there is before making the tough decision on which I like best.

Leaning toward the Engineer and the Ranger as my two mains. Though the Guardian is a blast to play and I have yet to try the Warrior, the Thief, and the Mesmer.

Haven't got the guild bank yet, still need 2000 more influence, sigh. And that's only for 50 slots. The Mez has some neat tricks but was woefully underpowered in the BWEs. Didn't care for the thief, just too used to the standard rogue role to enjoy it.

ďThat's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!Ē

CannibalBob wrote on Aug 29, 2012, 02:49:What amazes me about GW2 is the amount of stuff to learn and do. When you make a character, all that stuff you choose affects your personal storyline. There are 5 races to choose, each with different stories. I think there are 9 permutations of backstory you can choose, times the 5 races, making 45 different stories you'll see. It may only affect the cutscenes/dialog, but for RPG fans, this is just awesome! It took me two BWE's to beat the personal storyline, which was disappointing, but a lot of areas and races were missing in the beta, so the story may have been cut short.

It's actually deeper than that. The personal stories only went up to 20 in the BWEs, in-game they go to 80. I just hit 39 and at 35 I already branched out between a choice of 2 diffrent routes I could have gone. I chose the spy route so now I get to choose certain quests within that role. So there's even more stories and options within the stories which is effing cool.

Next are the classes themselves. Each class has different weapons, opening up different skills. Then there is the Trait system, which is similar to WoW's Talent Tree system. This allows even more cool builds; while most of the traits are just number multipliers (ie +20% burning durations), I've seen some interesting traits you can select, such as moveable Ranger spirits or elementalist attunement switching causes AOE effects. There are also a bunch of utility skills you can choose. While Guild Wars 1 had a much more strategic build system (each profession has 150 skills to choose, and you can have a secondary profession), since it played more like a Magic the Gathering card game, GW2's build system is definitely no slouch.I personally didn't like WoW's build system, since it was too obvious; each class' role is predefined; you only really have to choose between pure PvP, PvE soloing or PvE party. In GW2, you have all sorts of cool builds you can do; support, healing, damage, aoe, crowd control, running and so on. For example, I have a build which boosts my movement speed at the cost of other skills. This is great for simply traveling around or collecting resources, but it sucks for doing events/hearts. When I'm in a party, I veer to be more supportive with healing etc. Depends on what professions are in my party, too. It's just so cool being able to do everything, but you have to make a choice and be strategic about it. I remember in WoW, you were basically screwed without a tank or a healer, and there was no way around it. That problem simply does not exist in GW2.

Check the GW2 Wiki for info on combos and stuff. I've only just glanced over them myself but will be learning them soon as they seem like they'll be a huge help in dungeons.

GW2 isn't without its faults, though. I hope they add a build-swapping system; it's a pain swapping different skills etc.The auction house downtime really sucks. I'm packing my mules to the brim here!

Build swaps would be nicer than re-assigning skills I agree. And you are using your collectables deposit space, right?

ďThat's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!Ē

One of my biggest gripes is the shared bank across all toons. Pretty much forces you to open more space using gems. I like that the toons share collectibles. That I can applaud. While I play alts and focus on other crafting skills what I've gathered but can't use contributes to the leveling of my other character just by sending the items to the collectibles storage/bank.

My other complaint is that I'm having fun with every profession so far. Somebody was talking about thier Necro being boring? Did you try a dual dagger wielding necro? Adds a nice twist to the class.... er, profession.

Another thing I noticed is you can only have characters on one server at a time? And five is the limit? Not sure I like that since I wanted to try them all without deleting any. The flips side is it helps me focus on what I got instead of trying every profession there is before making the tough decision on which I like best.

Leaning toward the Engineer and the Ranger as my two mains. Though the Guardian is a blast to play and I have yet to try the Warrior, the Thief, and the Mesmer.

What amazes me about GW2 is the amount of stuff to learn and do. When you make a character, all that stuff you choose affects your personal storyline. There are 5 races to choose, each with different stories. I think there are 9 permutations of backstory you can choose, times the 5 races, making 45 different stories you'll see. It may only affect the cutscenes/dialog, but for RPG fans, this is just awesome! It took me two BWE's to beat the personal storyline, which was disappointing, but a lot of areas and races were missing in the beta, so the story may have been cut short.

Next are the classes themselves. Each class has different weapons, opening up different skills. Then there is the Trait system, which is similar to WoW's Talent Tree system. This allows even more cool builds; while most of the traits are just number multipliers (ie +20% burning durations), I've seen some interesting traits you can select, such as moveable Ranger spirits or elementalist attunement switching causes AOE effects. There are also a bunch of utility skills you can choose. While Guild Wars 1 had a much more strategic build system (each profession has 150 skills to choose, and you can have a secondary profession), since it played more like a Magic the Gathering card game, GW2's build system is definitely no slouch.I personally didn't like WoW's build system, since it was too obvious; each class' role is predefined; you only really have to choose between pure PvP, PvE soloing or PvE party. In GW2, you have all sorts of cool builds you can do; support, healing, damage, aoe, crowd control, running and so on. For example, I have a build which boosts my movement speed at the cost of other skills. This is great for simply traveling around or collecting resources, but it sucks for doing events/hearts. When I'm in a party, I veer to be more supportive with healing etc. Depends on what professions are in my party, too. It's just so cool being able to do everything, but you have to make a choice and be strategic about it. I remember in WoW, you were basically screwed without a tank or a healer, and there was no way around it. That problem simply does not exist in GW2.

GW2 isn't without its faults, though. I hope they add a build-swapping system; it's a pain swapping different skills etc.The auction house downtime really sucks. I'm packing my mules to the brim here!GW2 starts to feel like a grind. I feel like the hearts, and dynamic events don't matter; I will rush through some, especially the boring city ones with no combat. I hope there are longer dynamic event chains in later areas, and maybe a more enticing server-wide impact. What I really enjoyed in GW1 was the linear, epic story - it made it feel less of a grind. I hope GW2 still has that kind of thing; the personal story kind of sucks. I guess Anet can't have too many people not doing the dynamic stuff.

Best tip I can give atm, is you can play any starting area with any class. Just look for the Azura gate at your home city, it will take you to Lions Gate. There is a portal to each of the five major cities at Lions Gate.

Also, doing all the discovery points and vistas on each of the five cities and Lions Gate will net you 18 Transmutation Stones and TONS of XP.

Any idea what the Guild limit per sever is, I've heard a rumor it's really low, less than ten. Apparently the rumor goes Areanet wants less guilds force more cooperation. Since I'm new to GW world, no clue if it's true and the forums were down last I checked.

On the upside the wiki is now up and downside still no Auction.

I transferred to Tarnished Coast, the first server I was on seemed to have too many trolls.

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.It works the same way in any country.